Family Ties
by The Minsk
Summary: With changes at home and changes at school, Finn's going to need all the help he can get.
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: NEW STORY! This one will be a little bit different than my stories in the past. But I think you're gonna like it!

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Family Ties

Prologue

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**December 2009**

Finn Hudson grimaced at the crowds of people at the mall. His mother had dragged him along with her to pick out some last minute Christmas presents for his aunts and grandmother. He would rather be at home, listening to the loudest, angriest music available and trying to drown out the raging thoughts in his head. But his mom needed him to come along with her to help her carry the bags. He sighed.

He was a glorified man-servant.

"C'mon Finn! One more store and then we're done!" Carole Hudson beamed at her only child and rubbed him on his back. He couldn't say no to her. He and his mom had a different kind of relationship than most guys his age had with their moms. They were all they had. His dad had died and left them to depend on each other for love and support. She had always worked hard and sacrificed for him, so he would do the same for her.

Even if his heart had just been ripped to shreds by his best friend and girlfriend. Well, ex-friend and ex-girlfriend now.

He sighed as he looked at the store he was going into. Macy's. Another store where people were going to spray stuff in his face.

He followed his mother around the large store and tried to maneuver himself and the large bags around the other patrons. Little kids kept running in front of him and under his long legs. As his mother was leading him to the makeup counters, he thought he recognized a familiar voice coming from the skin care display.

"I have to make sure I buy the cleanser that won't dry out my skin. Dry skin causes break-outs!"

"Does it really matter then, Kurt? You're buying the stuff to make sure you don't break out but it can still make you break out after you use it." Kurt scoffed at his father.

"Dad, you'll never understand skin-care. It's all about the pH of the skin and the moisturizers and toners. We should really try to find you a shaving gel that will lock the moisture into your skin after you shave. It will reduce razor burn."

Finn knew he had recognized that voice. School had only been out for a few days, but he hadn't spoken to Kurt- or anyone else in glee- since Sectionals. In his opinion, they were lucky he hadn't quit the club altogether. He was still furious at Quinn and Puck, but also at the other gleeks for keeping mum about the situation for the sake of Sectionals.

Everyone except Rachel. He still needed to thank her for that. She was the only one who had cared enough about him to tell him the truth. That meant a lot to him, and she was the only person who he was still on speaking terms with.

But he figured while he was out with his mother he should be civil. He should at least say hi. He saw Kurt from across the aisle and waved, the heavy bags still hanging from his arms. He saw Kurt wave frantically at him from the skin care department, and he took his dads arm and dragged him over to where his mother was looking at perfume.

"Finn! How are you?"

Finn shrugged his shoulders. "Alright I guess. It's good to be away from school, you know?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah. I'm still really sorry about all of that."

"Yeah, me too." Kurt looked at Finn's mother, who was still distracted by the salesperson.

"Is that your mom?"

"Yeah, we're doing some last minute shopping."

"Us too. Dad, this is Finn. He's the quarterback of the football team. And he's also in glee with me!" Finn shook Mr. Hummel's hand. His mom had finally finished talking to the salesperson and turned around.

"Mom, this is Kurt, from glee club. And his dad, Mr. Hummel." He looked at his Mom and she was staring at Kurt's dad. Her eyes were very intense. Finn looked up at Mr. Hummel, and he was also looking at his mom the same way.

Weird. . .

"Burt. Call me Burt." He held out his hand and she took it, blushing.

"Carole. Carole Hudson." They both smiled and they wouldn't stop shaking the other's hand. Finn looked at Kurt and he had noticed their crazy look too. They both shared their own look of confusion.

"It's nice to meet you, Carole." Burt said it in a daze and Carole's face burned brighter and brighter. Neither of them had broken apart their hands yet.

"It's nice to meet you too, Burt." Carole looked like she was in a trance. Neither boy really knew what to do. Kurt was the one to break the silence and cleared his throat, loudly. The two adults snapped out of their daze and let go of the other's hand. They looked embarrassed and laughed awkwardly.

"I didn't know our kids had so much in common." Carole was smiling at Burt, and Finn felt very awkward. His mom was kind of flirting with Kurt's dad!

"Me neither. We should get together for coffee one time and talk. I'm sure we might have other things in common as well." Finn looked at his mom and he had never seen her look so happy. She beamed at Burt and scribbled down their home phone number on the back of her receipt.

"I would really like that. How about tomorrow?" She handed Burt the piece of paper and their hands made contact again. They stood there for a second longer than necessary, and Finn felt monumentally awkward now. He looked over at Kurt and he looked terrified.

They were watching their parents make plans for a date!

"Well, we really should get going. But I'll call you about tomorrow."

"Okay. Happy Holidays!" Burt yelled as Kurt practically dragged his father away.

"Happy Holidays!"

Finn looked down at his mother in complete and total shock. What the hell had just happened?

"Mom? What was that?" His mother looked up at him and had the most radiant smile that he had ever seen on her face. It melted years away from her face, and he felt like he was looking at a completely different person.

"I don't know, baby."

"You and Kurt's dad were, like, hypnotized!"

She looked at her son in shock. "You noticed that too? I can't explain it, but, there's something about Burt that makes me feel like a teenager again!"

He didn't know what to think. He had never really seen his mom date anyone before. There was the guy from Emerald Dreams who had broken her heart when he was a kid, but he had never seen his mom even express interest in seeing other men until today. But he couldn't make himself feel bitter or upset about it. His love life might have been in shambles, but his mom should be happy, at least.

He was happy for her. She deserved it.

"Well, I'm happy for you, Mom. Kurt is a good buddy. I'm sure his dad is a good guy too."

"So you wouldn't be upset if I started to see him?"

"I'm not a kid anymore, Mom. I understand that adults can date, too. It's gross to think about, but I won't be mad if it makes you happy." She leaned up and gave her son a kiss on the cheek.

"You're a good boy, Finn. I'm lucky to have a son like you." Finn smiled at his mom. His life might be a mess, but he could still make sure he made his mom proud.

Little did he know that his life was about to change forever.

* * *

Salut mes amis!

Welcome to my new story! It will **NOT** be Finn/Kurt slash. I do not write slash, nor do I write Finn/Kurt romance.

Until Next Time . . .*sings* Don't Stop Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


	2. Changes

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Speculation alert for the back nine! I know there is a severe lack of Rachel in the prologue and chapter one, but she will be in it all the time after this chapter, I promise. It's called plot development, people! Gotta set up the story somehow!

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Family Ties

Chapter One: Changes

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**March 2010**

Finn helped his mother set the table for dinner. He placed four plates on each setting with a glass and a napkin. He stared at the silver cutlery. Did it really matter which order he put these things in around the plate? They were all going to get dirty anyway!

He looked up and saw his mom in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the meal she had slaved over in the kitchen all day. When he came home from basketball and saw her in her apron-- which she only wore on special occasions or the holidays-- he was curious. It had become a routine that Burt and Kurt come over on Friday nights for dinner, but she had never worn the apron before. Something fishy was going on, and his suspicions were confirmed when she pulled out the silver cutlery that great-grandma Hudson took with her from Ireland in the early 1900's.

Seven o'clock came around and Burt and Kurt came over. He was still getting used to seeing Kurt outside of school. At first it was weird being around him when there wasn't glee, school, or football to keep them occupied. Now it was getting easier to just hang out. He could still remember the first time they had come over for their weekly dinner. Kurt brought over a karaoke machine and made him sing "Telephone" by Lady Gaga in front of his mom. Kurt had insisted on singing Beyoncé's part, but wore a Lady Gaga inspired outfit, anyway. He even had a bow in his hair. His mom stared at him with her mouth wide open while he sang the Lady Gaga vocals. Later that night, he and his mom had a good long talk about how he was sure he was straight. He'd promised her many grandchildren in the future. The far, distant future.

Kurt went up to him and gave him a fist bump. The first time he'd come over, he'd given Finn a kiss on each cheek. He'd said thats what all the fashionistas did in New York and Paris. Finn had put a stop to that right away. He had told him that they lived in Ohio. And in Ohio, men bump fists. Kurt obliged him.

"Hey Finn. I'm sorry about today." He shot a worried look at his mom, hoping that she hadn't heard Kurt. She seemed oblivious.

He leaned down to whisper to Kurt. "Not here, man. We have a few minutes before dinner; go into the living room. We'll talk there." Kurt nodded and headed for the living room. Finn turned to see what his mom was doing. She and Burt were talking in the kitchen.

"Mom, I have to talk to Kurt about something. Let us know when you're ready." She nodded and he met Kurt in the living room. He was sitting on the couch and frowning at his vintage throw pillows. He had once said that his living room looked like it could have been the set for _The Golden Girls_ and Finn didn't think that was a good thing.

Finn sat on the love-seat across from Kurt and let his head fall into his hands. He didn't know what to do. Just when he thought things were going back to normal. . .

"So, spill Finn. You have to be upset over this! This is huge!" Finn nodded. It _was_ huge.

A huge catastrophe!

He had spent the past few months in a fog. It took him a hell of a lot longer to get over Quinn and the baby than he ever would have thought. For the first few weeks after Holiday Break, the only people he talked to were Rachel and Kurt. Kurt was proving to be a better friend than he ever would have imagined. He always listened and tried not to be judgmental. Even when he did let a nasty comment slip, he would always backtrack and apologize. Kurt could be an even bigger diva than Rachel and Mercedes put together, and Finn was still getting used to it.

Rachel, on the other hand, was a completely different story. She had put herself out there and made sure he knew that she was there to talk. He had relied on her the most. He knew she'd still had feelings for him, and he'd felt strongly for her too. But he had focused more on being her friend than anything else. He'd thought they'd have plenty of time. It hadn't seemed like she'd minded. She'd always been there for him.

Until she'd met another guy.

Jesse.

This guy was the cause of all his problems. If it wasn't for him, everything would be fine and freakin' dandy.

He'd transferred to McKinley about a week ago. Finn had barely been aware of his existence.

Until he'd joined New Directions.

"What can I say, dude? I feel like such a chick!"

"Talk it out, Finn."

"He stole my part, okay! I'm the male lead in New Directions and that little pussy bitch stole my solos right from under me!" He stood up during his rant and Kurt had to crane his neck in order to look at his face. Finn started to pace around the living room.

"I swear, the second that kid came into the school, everyone was all over him. Even you!" Kurt had the decency to look guilty.

"He has _amazing_ hair. I need to know what product he uses."

"Not helping, Kurt!"

"Sorry. But this is Lima, Ohio. Anything new is worthy of attention."

"But Mr. Schuester heard him sing once. Once. And he gave him the lead. _My_ lead!" Kurt looked sympathetic.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but did you hear him sing? The guy is fabulous!" Finn stared daggers at Kurt and he put his hands up in mock defense.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm nothing if not brutally honest. You know how obsessed Mr. Schue is with winning. He'll do anything to make sure we win. You know glee is done for if we don't." Kurt paused for a second and frowned. "This isn't just about the lead solos though, is it?" He looked at Finn with a knowing glare and Finn shrugged.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, honey. I might be gayer than the day is long, but I'm not stupid. You have a thing for Rachel." Finn was momentarily stunned by his candidness. Sure, he knew that Kurt was gay, but he had never heard him say it so bluntly before. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"Is it that obvious?"

Kurt threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "You follow her around like a puppy! She's always giving you the crazy eyes! Honestly, I don't know what kept you two from hooking up already!" Finn was shocked. If Kurt was aware of his feelings for Rachel, why didn't she know?

"I don't know what I did, man! I should have let her know sooner. How I felt and stuff. But I'm not good at words. . .you know. . .saying feelings. She probably gave up on me." He grit his teeth in frustration. "And now she's dating that solo-stealing man diva!"

"That's why I keep telling you to give up on the girls! They're too needy." He gave Kurt a severe look. He had given him the "Switch Teams" argument every Friday for the past five weeks.

"I told you, dude. I'm a huge fan of boobs."

"Boobs are overrated."

_"Anyway!" _Finn was starting to get irritated. "Now Jesse is all up in my club, stealing my solos and Rachel right from under me! What am I supposed to do?"

He heard his mother call him and Kurt from the kitchen. Kurt stood up and pat Finn on his shoulder.

"We can talk more later. I brought my mani/pedi set tonight! I can work on your cuticles while we talk!"

"What are cuticles?"

"You are hopeless!" He lifted up Finn's hand and pointed to the nail. "It's the skin around the base of the nail. And child, you need a manicure like Kirstie Alley needs a treadmill!" Finn dropped his hand.

"We'll see, man." He followed Kurt into the kitchen. It was good to at least get that much off of his chest. He sat in-between his mom and Kurt and started to fill his plate. Before he could eat anything, Burt cleared his throat.

"Boys." Both he and Kurt looked up. Burt looked serious but he was holding Carole's hand. She was smiling radiantly. "Tonight is a very special night for us all. We have some good news." Burt and Carole shared a look filled with love. She turned to Finn and beamed.

"We're moving in together!" It took him a few seconds to process the information. Kurt was a lot faster than he was.

"What?!?"

Burt looked at his son. "We decided that we love each other, and we want to make things work. It's time for us to be a family. We're moving in together."

Finn was in complete shock. He had never thought his mother would ever get _this_ serious with a guy! At least not until he was in college or something!

"But, whose house are we going to live in?"

"We're moving into the Hummel's. Kurt sleeps in the basement, so there's an extra room for you, Finn." Finn took a moment to let it all soak in. He wasn't completely in love with the idea, but he knew it would make his mom happy.

He looked up at Kurt. He looked less than happy.

He looked downright furious.

He stood up and threw his napkin onto the table. He stormed out of the dining room and slammed the bathroom door shut. Burt and Carole both shared the same worried look.

At least he didn't have to worry about getting his cuticles done tonight.

* * *

Finn knocked on the bathroom door. Dinner had been over for an hour, but Carole put a plate to the side for Kurt. He hadn't come out of the bathroom since.

"Kurt? Dude, it's Finn." He heard no answer, only sniffles. Great. He needed to get him to open the door. "C'mon, man. I gotta take a dump."

Kurt opened the door and gave Finn a disgusted look. "Ew."

"It got you to open the door!" Kurt tried to shut the door again but Finn blocked it with his body. "Listen, your dad and my mom are watching a movie, come and talk with me while I play _Modern Warfare_." Kurt nodded and followed Finn into his bedroom. Finn picked up the controller and Kurt watched him blow up stuff for a few minutes before Finn started to talk.

"So what's up? It's my turn to tell you to spill. I don't get to do that often enough." Kurt looked like he didn't want to say anything. He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed a little bit.

"I feel like he's replacing her." Finn paused the game and turned around to face Kurt.

"Who?"

"My mom. It feels like my dad is replacing her." Finn frowned. He felt bad for Kurt. Finn had the luxury of never having known his father. Kurt will always know what it was like to lose his mother. To have her and then lose her. And now he felt like his father was replacing her.

"You know that's not true. I don't feel like my mom is replacing my dad."

"But my house is where all of our memories are. All of her possessions. Even her smell. It just feels like a betrayal to her that he would be willing to have another woman live where she lived. I like your mom, Finn. I do. Even if she wears too much denim and needs a makeover. But this is hard for me. I'm still not happy about it."

"I think this is something you need to talk with your dad about. You know you should." Kurt looked at Finn with watery eyes. He nodded.

"I know." He paused and looked at Finn with a light blush on his face. "Thanks Finn."

"No problem. Just don't go kissing me or anything."

"Aw, now where's the fun in that?"

Finn gave him the severe look again from before. He was thinking of calling it the "Don't Hit On Me" look. Kurt laughed.

Living with the Hummels was going to be quite the experience.

* * *

Salut mes amis!

I am loving the Finn/Kurt friendship! I can't wait until Finn and Kurt get to live under the same roof!

Rachel makes her grand entrance tomorrow!

Until Next Time *sings* Don't Stop. . .Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


	3. Reality Bites

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Get ready. . .a certain stunning young ingénue is about to make her grand entrance!

* * *

Family Ties

Chapter Two: Reality Bites

* * *

The weekend passed by in a blur for Finn. His mom wanted to move in as quickly as possible, so he spent most of the weekend packing up his room and helping his mom lift heavy boxes and furniture. They really didn't have to bring that much stuff with them to the Hummel's. Most of what needed to go with them was Finn's: his bed, desk, drum kit, dressers, computer, and video game consoles. He helped his mom clean out the attic and pack up all of his father's old things to be put into storage at his grandmother's house.

Sunday he spent the day loading boxes into the Hummel's house. Sunday night would be the last night he would sleep in his old home. He tried to soak it all in. It was the place where he'd grown up; it held all of his memories. Like the time when Puck shattered the kitchen window with a baseball. Or the time he broke his collarbone wrestling in the front yard, with Puck. Or when he'd kissed a girl for the very first time on his front steps. It had been Quinn.

He shook his head.

Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.

He woke up on Monday and and took a last look around his house. He would be walking home from school to Kurt's place. Kurt lived a lot closer to McKinley than Finn did. Finn never needed to get a ride to school again. Burt was coming over in the afternoon to move the final pieces of furniture he would need for his room. He had a whole night of unpacking ahead of him.

He shut the light off in his room and said goodbye to the memories of his childhood.

On the way to school he thought about a lot of things. He thought about Rachel and how much he missed being alone with her. Sure he still saw her at practice, but now Jesse was always there. The only time he really had alone with her was in Spanish class. Apparently Jesse took French, the hoity-toity diva. At least Finn had a whole 43 minutes to look at Rachel without Jesse glaring daggers at him.

He thought about his solos. He never thought he would ever admit it, but he really liked being the male lead. He loved performing and being in the spotlight made it even better. He missed the attention he'd gotten from Rachel, especially when they had practiced alone for their solos. He missed singing with her, too. He missed the way their voices sounded in harmony and how it felt to dance with her.

Now his dance partner was Mercedes. She called him a clumsy cracka when he stepped on her feet.

He thought about Kurt, and their living situation. He was worried that Kurt still hadn't gotten over being upset about the move. He couldn't even begin to understand how hard it was for Kurt. It was a lot to deal with in so little time. He never thought his mom would fall so hard for Burt. What would happen if they decided to get married?

He and Kurt would be step-brothers! The idea shook him to the core.

He'd never had a brother. He'd always wanted one as a kid. But, he could see Kurt being like a brother. A flamboyant, judgmental, totally gay brother. But still a brother. He idly wondered which one of them was older: him or Kurt. . .

He walked into school and hadn't even made it three steps down the hallway before Karofsky came out of nowhere and dumped a freezing cold slushie over his head. He felt the freezing ice drink cascade down his back and chill him to the bone. He shivered, and wiped his hands over his eyes to push away the cold slush.

"What the _fuck_, Karofsky?!?" He swung blindly in front of him because a huge glob of slush landed right in his eyes. He made contact with nothing and he could hear the laughs of the jocks surrounding him.

"Should we call your boyfriend to come help you clean off, Hudson? What color will the curtains be in your bedroom?" The jocks laughed and Finn realized in an instant something that he had been too distracted to think about before.

The reaction of the kids at school to the news that he and Kurt would be living together.

"Back off, man! My mom is in love with his Dad. I can't help it if I'm getting dragged along."

"Aww, it's like one big happy homo family!" Finn started to swing again madly and he finally landed a punch somewhere on the asshole's face. The other jocks were cheering Karofsky on, while Finn jumped on top of him and started to pummel whichever part of his body he could see. His eyes were stinging like hell, and the slushie had completely soaked him all the way down to his boxers.

He saw Coach Tanaka out of the corner of his stinging eye, and he pulled Finn off of Karofsky. After listening to him yell at them for a few minutes, Karofsky finally turned around and left. The crowd that had gathered around them started to dissipate.

That's when he heard her voice.

"Finn?"

He turned around and looked down. He could barely see through the corn syrup still in his eye, but he knew it was her. The one person he wanted to see. The only person who could calm him down at the very moment.

Rachel.

"Hey, Rachel." She smiled at him and he felt his heart pound in his chest.

"What happened?"

"You haven't heard?" It figured that she would be the only person in the whole school not in the loop.

"About what?" He sighed deeply.

"My mom and Kurt's dad are in love. They're moving in together." Her eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Wow. I know you told me they were dating, but this is a big deal." He nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Now, I'm moving into Kurt's house. Tonight is my first night there." She looked completely shocked.

"I can't believe you're going to be living with Kurt."

"I know; me neither." She reached out and grabbed his hand.

"C'mon. Let's go clean you off. You look practically disheveled." He smiled warmly and let her lead him wherever she wanted. He closed his hand around hers and his heart leaped in his chest when she didn't pull away.

She led them into the girl's bathroom. He had never been inside a girl's bathroom before, but it smelled a hell of a lot better than the guy's room. That place smelled like death.

This place had chairs! And vending machines! On second thought, those vending machines didn't look like they sold candy. . .

Rachel sat him down on one of the chairs and reached into her bag. She pulled out a moist towelette and started to wipe the stickiness away from his face. Her touches were gentle and he closed his eyes, reveling in the attention he was receiving from her. It almost made being slushied worth it.

He felt super uncomfortable in his sticky shirt. He remembered that he had an extra gym shirt in his bag. He looked over at Rachel who was throwing away the used towelettes.

"Do you mind if I change my shirt really quick? I feel sticky and gross." She blushed furiously, and bit her bottom lip in a way that made Finn want to reach over and kiss her senseless. She nodded her head timidly.

"Sure." He searched through his backpack and found the shirt. He felt kind of awkward taking off his shirt in front of Rachel, but he was kind of hoping to impress her with his guns.

He noticed her staring at him while he removed his shirt. While he was unfolding his gym shirt, Rachel came up to him with another towelette.

"Oh, Finn, you have a huge glob of slush right here. . ." She reached over and started to wipe a sticky area of his chest, right below his neck. She had no idea the effect she was having on him at the moment. All he wanted to do was kiss her. She was so close. She looked hypnotized while she wiped the sticky area. He was sure it was already clean, but she kept wiping and staring at his bare chest. She moved the towelette over his shoulders, and down over his pecks. If he just leaned forward, just a little bit, his lips would be on hers. . .

The warning bell for homeroom rang in the distance and Rachel and Finn snapped out of their momentary daze. They shared a shaky smile and Finn pulled the clean shirt over his head. He went over to the sink and held his head under the faucet for a moment to remove most of the stickiness from his hair. He put his head under the hand dryer to remove most of the moisture. When he was finished, he turned to Rachel who was gathering her things.

"Thanks for helping me out, Rachel."

"Anytime, Finn. I was glad to help. That's what friends are for." He felt like wind had been knocked out of him. He had been riding a mini-high from having Rachel touch his chest so intimately.

Now reality had bit him in the ass, yet again.

"Yeah, right." He stood there kind of awkwardly for a second. "See you." He turned around and walked out of the girls bathroom, trying not to storm out like a chick.

Why couldn't he ever catch a break?!

* * *

The rest of the school day was uneventful and, thankfully, slushie-free. Finn had basketball practice after school so by the time he walked to Kurt's house, well, _his house_, it was already dark. He walked in and saw his mother in the kitchen and Burt on the sofa watching TV. He waved to his mom and went into his new bedroom. The boxes filled with his possessions were scattered around the floor and unpacking was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. But he sat on his bed, anyway, and opened up the boxes. By the time his mother called him for dinner, he had already set up his TV, computer and video game consoles.

After dinner, Kurt knocked on his door while he was in the middle of sorting through old comic books. Kurt had said little at dinner, and Finn hadn't the chance to talk to him yet today. Kurt stood in his doorway, looking awkward.

"Hey, man. What's up?"

"Nothing, I don't want to bother you if you're busy. I wanted to ask you a favor." Finn dropped the stack of comics back into the box.

"Shoot."

Kurt looked hesitant. "I need your help with something." He went into the room and closed the door behind him. Finn urged him to continue and he shuffled from one foot to the other, searching for the words.

"I need you to take a picture of me." He held out a little digital camera to Finn and he took it, staring at it quizzically.

"For what?" Kurt blushed furiously and Finn had never seen him so flabbergasted.

"I need a profile picture for this website." Finn still looked confused. Kurt rolled his eyes. "For _gay teens_." Finns eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Oh. _Oh!_" He was not the sharpest tool in the shed. "You're not going to be naked are you?"

"NO!"

"Oh, okay. Good. No problem." He paused and looked up at Kurt who was still embarrassed. "Why a website, though?" Kurt shrugged.

"It seems like an option, I guess. It's hard to be the only openly gay guy in the area. Maybe I can find some more. I'm tired of having crushes on straight guys." Finn raised his eyebrows in shock.

"You've had crushes on guys from our school?" Kurt's blush returned in full force and he started to play with his hair.

"Um, yeah. One guy. But I'm over him now. I've moved on."

"Do I know him?"

Kurt smiled. "Oh, yeah. You know him." Now Finn's curiosity was piqued. He went through a mental list of guys he knew from school.

"Is he in glee?" Kurt nodded. That narrowed it down to Puck, Mike, Matt and Artie.

"Is he in football?" Kurt smiled and that narrowed it down to Puck, Mike and Matt.

"And basketball, too." Kurt added.

He thought about it, and the only glee kid who did both basketball and football was. . .

"Ew! Dude, seriously? You had a thing for _Puck_?!?" GROSS!

Kurt looked at him incredulously. "No! You buffoon! I had a thing for _you_!" He was shocked for a second, but Kurt's wording distracted him.

"Wait, you think I'm a monkey?" Kurt slapped his forehead and threw his hands in the air.

"No! That's a _baboon_! And you're one of those too! If I wasn't over you already, this conversation would have killed it for me." Finn stood in his bedroom reeling from the truth of his words. Kurt had a gay crush on him! Well, apparently he had moved on, but still.

"What happened to your crush? I mean, I'm kind of flattered. Hugely weirded out, but flattered."

Kurt sighed heavily. "Ever since your mom started dating my dad I decided to give up on you for good. I knew you were never going to switch sides, and it started to feel weird. You know? We're almost like brothers now, and that's just plain gross. So, I decided to try and find someone who will actually be able to reciprocate my feelings."

"So you're over me?" He was relieved. Kurt was a good guy, but living in the same house with someone who had a gay crush on him was a little bit too much to handle.

"Yeah, pretty much. Just try not to be too charming, I might have a relapse." Kurt smiled shakily and Finn remembered something from before.

"I have a question for you. When's your birthday?"

Kurt looked confused, but answered, "May 27th. Why?"

Finn smiled. Finn's was May 11. He might only be a few weeks older than Kurt, but he was now the older brother.

And he was going to help his little bro find a boyfriend!

"Nothing, let's get that picture taken." Kurt smiled as Finn turned on the camera. Kurt made a flamboyant pose.

"Just remember to only photograph me from the left side!"

* * *

Salut mes amis!

The dates I used were actually the birthdays of the actors, Cory Monteith (May 11) and Chris Colfer (May 27). It was just coincidence that Finn wound up being older, because they're both sophomores on the show. I wanted him to be older anyway. And Chris Colfer's birthday is the day after mine! WHEE!

Until Next Time. . .*sings* Don't Stop. . .Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


	4. Mourir D'Amour

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Et voila! I finally get to work some of my mad French skillz into a story! Ça me fait beaucoup de plaisir! On y va!

* * *

Family Ties

Chapter Three: Mourir D'Amour

* * *

Finn felt like he'd accomplished a lot before he went to bed. He had helped Kurt take a profile picture and upload it to the website for gay teens. Then Kurt had helped him set up his drum kit in his room. While they were putting it together, Kurt had suggested that they form a band like the Brady Bunch or the Partridge Family. Finn would be on drums, Kurt would sing, Burt could play guitar, and his mom could play the tambourine. Finn had shot that idea down very fast.

Before he had gone to bed, Kurt ran upstairs and told him he had already been contacted by two guys around the Lima area and couldn't thank Finn enough. Finn was just happy to help.

If only he had some help in his own love life!

The next morning, he packed himself an extra set of clothes for school. It was the first morning he would be coming into school with Kurt and he had a feeling the hockey jocks had something planned for them. He walked to school that morning feeling more than a little tense.

Surprisingly, he made it to his locker slushie-free. Hopefully his luck would hold up through the rest of the day.

Then he remembered that he had glee rehearsal that afternoon and would have to sit through two hours of watching Rachel sing with that solo stealing, fluffy haired, man-diva.

Luck was never on his side.

He went to his locker right before Spanish that afternoon. He was surprised he'd never had to change into his spare clothes. He'd been tripped, pushed, hassled and harassed; but no liquids were flung in his general direction. So he stashed them in his locker for another time; he had a feeling he would eventually be needing them. He noticed Rachel walking in the hallway with Jesse and resisted the urge to punch his locker.

He couldn't hear them, but he could tell that they were saying goodbye. Rachel leaned forward and puckered her lips for a kiss but, instead, Jesse placed a chaste kiss on her forehead and walked away. Rachel was left in the hallway, a hurt and confused look on her face. He walked up to her and smiled.

"Hey, Rachel. Walk with me to Spanish?" She nodded and fell into step with Finn as they walked to Mr. Schuester's room. Rachel was unusually quiet. She looked lost in thought and a deep frown was set on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She snapped out of her daze and looked up at him with sad eyes.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking about something."

"What's up? Talk to me." She looked a little uncomfortable and took a second to gather her thoughts.

"Do I smell?" The question caught him off guard.

"Huh?"

"Like, bad. Do I have B.O.? Bad breath?" He almost laughed. This was Rachel Berry, the queen of personal hygiene! She smelled, but it wasn't bad. It was amazing. She always smelled so fresh and clean. Like fruits and those candles his mom burned around the house. He loved to smell her hair and her perfume, especially when they would sit next to each other in glee or Spanish. What did she smell like today? He leaned in and smelled her hair. She smelled like peaches. He loved peaches.

"No way! You smell great!" She blushed and smiled. "Why?" Her smile melted back into a frown.

"I don't know. I don't think Jesse likes to kiss me." He was floored. Why wouldn't he want to kiss Rachel? She was pretty and smart and nice. And she definitely didn't smell bad. What was wrong with this guy?

"What's his problem?" She nodded her head in agreement.

"I know, right? It's weird. And he never hugs me or holds my hand either." He didn't like how sad she looked when she was frowning. It kind of made him want to frown. They were right outside of Spanish and he stopped her from going into the classroom.

"He's an idiot then. I wouldn't pass up a chance to kiss you. There's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect." Her face burst into the deepest blush he had ever seen, and he realized a bit too late exactly what he had said to her. He made no move to take it back, though. It was the truth.

She looked like she wanted to kiss him. He sure as hell wanted to kiss her. He leaned down and she closed her eyes and started to pucker her lips. He rejoiced. It had been so long since the last time he had kissed her, he wanted to do it again so badly. Their faces were inches from each other, and he could feel her soft breath on his lips. . .

"Hey guys! C'mon in, there's a quiz today!" Mr. Schuester clapped a hand on both of their shoulders and interrupted their almost-kiss. Finn turned around to look at Mr. Schue with murder in his eyes. He was furious at Mr. Schuester. First the guy took away his lead solos, now he was blocking him from kissing Rachel. The dude had it in for him! They both entered the classroom, blushing and embarrassed.

After the quiz, Finn couldn't get Rachel out of his head. He'd wanted to kiss her more than anything, and he sat next to her today so he could stay close. He also kind of cheated off of her, but that was just a perk he got from sitting next to her. He opened up his notebook and started to write on the corner of the page.

_Mr. Schuester has bad timing. :)_

He poked her with his pen, and she looked down and read the scribble. She frowned and wrote a response.

_I don't know what you mean._

Shit. She was trying to pretend that nothing had happened.

_You smell like peaches. I would kiss you all day.__  
__  
_She looked down and she froze. A deep blush spread across her face and she looked up at him. Her eyes were wary, but she smiled at him. She scribbled one more note on his page and returned to taking notes.

_Thanks :)_

He puffed out his chest a little bit. Happy faces were a good sign.

He walked out of Spanish with Rachel hoping to walk her to glee rehearsal. That's when he heard the brassy tenor of the guy who made his blood boil.

Jesse.

"Rachel!"

He walked up to Rachel and took her hand. He bowed deeply.

"Ah, Rachel, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d'amour!" Rachel giggled and Finn stood there looking confused. What the hell did he just say?

"What?" Finn frowned deeply, and Jesse looked up and gave Finn and arrogant smirk.

"It's French. We're studying Molière this week. It means 'Rachel, your beautiful eyes make me die from love.' It's from 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme'."

"Le boo-shwa jenty-huh?" Finn could barely pronounce the foreign words. It sounded like an alien language. Jesse looked at Finn like he'd smelled something bad.

"Nevermind. C'mon darling, let's head to glee." Rachel reached out to take Jesse's hand but he just started to walk away, completely ignoring the gesture. Rachel was right; he did avoid touching her. Maybe he was a germ freak like Miss Pillsbury.

He waited until Jesse had walked a few paces ahead of them and slipped his hand in hers. He noticed her smile and she closed her hand around his.

Glee rehearsal was uneventful. Finn sat with Matt, Mike, and Artie, while Mr. Schue mostly worked on blocking with Jesse and Rachel. He yawned more than a few times. After glee, he looked for Kurt to walk home together, but he seemed to have left without him. He walked home alone, expecting to see Kurt when he got there. He walked in and only Burt was home, watching basketball on the sofa.

"Hey, Burt." Burt nodded without taking his eyes off of the TV. "Did Kurt get home yet?" Burt shook his head and looked over to the love seat across from him.

"Wanna watch the game? I think we're doing take-out tonight. Your mom is working late." Finn nodded and sat down across from Burt. He thought Burt was an okay guy. He was a bit quiet, but he made his mom happy. They actually got along pretty well. They both liked sports, cars, and _Deadliest Catch_. He watched the game with Burt and Kurt walked in to the house almost a half an hour after the Chinese food arrived. What could he have been doing this whole time since glee?

Kurt came over to the couch and ate his Chinese food. Finn shot him a quizzical look and Kurt shook his head. He was wearing a deep blue scarf that matched his fluffy sweater, even though the house was pretty toasty.

After the game ended, Finn nodded at Kurt and he followed him into Finn's room. Kurt shut the door and sat on Finn's bed, crossing his legs and smiling.

"I looked for you everywhere after glee, dude! Where were you?" Kurt beamed brightly and Finn had never seen him look happier.

"I found someone, Finn! A guy!" Kurt was practically shaking in excitement. Finn gave him a high five.

"Awesome! See, after one night!" Kurt clapped his hands and bounced on the bed.

"I know! He came up to me today in school. He said he saw my picture on the website, but he didn't make a profile, 'coz, you know, he's not _out_ yet. But he said he liked me! I was with him after glee!" Finn was happy for Kurt. He deserved it.

"So are you guys going to start dating?" Kurt's smile faded away and he stopped bouncing.

"No. It's more complicated than that." Finn urged him to continue and Kurt took a deep breath. "He has a girlfriend." Finn was confused.

"Why? I thought when you're gay you liked dudes." Kurt resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"He's not out, yet. He's afraid. He says he's not ready. So he has a girlfriend to put up the illusion that he's straight." Finn nodded his head in understanding. He remembered a conversation he'd had with Quinn a long time ago. _"They all think you're gay now, Finn. And you know what makes me? Your big. . . gay. . . beard."_

He frowned. Kurt's boyfriend had a big gay beard.

"Tough break, man." He was sympathetic to Kurt's plight. "Can you tell me who he is?" Kurt shook his head violently.

"No way. He made me promise not to tell." He frowned.

"C'mon, man! Do I know him?"

Kurt looked guilty and turned his head to the side. "Maybe." Finn was pretty sure maybe meant yes. But Kurt looked like he had said all he wanted to say about him, so he changed the subject.

"So what's the deal with you two?" Kurt turned back around, but he looked wary.

"I'm hoping the more time we spend together, the more comfortable he is with himself so he can dump the girl and date me exclusively. But I shouldn't get my hopes up. I'm lucky I even had my first kiss!"

"Whoa, TMI!"

"It's a good thing I love scarves!" Kurt pulled the scarf down from his neck, and Finn could see deep red marks on Kurt's neck.

"Ew! Gross, man!" Kurt laughed while Finn looked awkward. He tried to suppress the mental image of a dude all over Kurt and almost gagged.

"I really like him, though. He's _so_ good looking! He shares my love of musicals and haute couture. And he speaks to me in French!" He wrapped the scarf back around his neck.

Finn looked up at Kurt. Now, a lot of people might have called him stupid in the past. Dumb. He would have agreed with them maybe half of the time, depending on what the situation was. But the other half of the time, he was pretty observant. He noticed things. Even if he didn't think they were worth knowing in the long run. But when he thought something was important, he noticed _everything_.

Like things involving Rachel. When she was sad about things. Those were the times when he paid attention to detail.

"French?" Finn said it full of suspicion.

"Yeah! I can't say it as well as he can, but he says, 'Ah, Kurt, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d'amour.' It sounds so pretty! He tells me my eyes make him--"

"Die from love." Finn finished for him, in a daze. Kurt looked at him in confusion.

"Since when do you speak French? You can barely speak English!" Finn shook his head and tried to smile at Kurt.

"I have to get some homework done. I'll talk to you later, dude." Kurt shrugged and left the room. Finn closed the door behind him and fell backwards onto his bed.

He was pretty sure he knew who Kurt's secret boyfriend was.

It was Jesse.

It all made sense now!

He spoke French. He wouldn't hug or kiss Rachel. He was pretty sharply dressed. And he had been campaigning for more songs from _Liza With A 'Z'_.

His heart broke for Rachel when he realized that she was a fake girlfriend. She was the big gay beard Kurt was referring to.

Not for much longer though. He had an idea.

He wanted to get Jesse out of the closet so Rachel could be his once and for all. Kurt would have a boyfriend, too. It was win/win! He needed to form a plan.

As soon as he got the mental image of Jesse kissing Kurt out of his head.

EWWW!!

* * *

Salut mes amis!

J'adore Molière! Et Finchel! Et quand je peux utiliser le français dans mes histoires! C'est génial!

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois. . .*chante* N'arrête pas. . . **Reviewing!****  
**  
Merci Mille Fois

La Minsk


	5. In The Closet

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Oh the gays, how I adore them. If I wasn't so in love with Finchel I would write more stories with gay characters!

* * *

Family Ties

Chapter Four: In The Closet

* * *

The next day, Finn was determined to set his plan into motion. He needed to talk to Kurt. He was planning on enlisting him as his partner in the mission, and Kurt could do something that Finn could not.

Talk a guy out of the closet.

Finn wasn't a hundred percent sure that Jesse was actually the secret boyfriend. It was just a hunch so far. He fit the profile he'd created in his mind last night but, today, he wasn't so sure. He needed proof before he could break up Rachel and Jesse. He didn't want to hurt Rachel, but Finn figured it would be for the best. Finn and Rachel could finally be together and Kurt could finally have a boyfriend. The only thing left was getting his solos back and things would be right as rain.

He ate breakfast with Kurt and noticed the matching scarf wrapped tightly around Kurt's neck, hiding the hickeys he'd received from his secret boyfriend last night. Kurt was smiling as he ate his breakfast. On the way to school, Finn knew he had to break the ice somehow.

"I want to talk to you about something, Kurt." Kurt's head twisted around to look at Finn, and Finn tried to find the right words to say.

"What's up Finn? Did I wake you up this morning with my daily calisthenics? If I don't listen to Gaga while I stretch, I get Charlie Horses."

"No, its not the Gaga." Even though if he heard any track from _The Fame Monster_ again, he thought he would slit his wrists. "It's about your secret boyfriend."

Kurt crossed his arms in front of his chest and stuck his nose in the air. "I told you, I can't tell you who he is."

"But what if I already know who he is?" Kurt's eyes shot open in fear.

"You're bluffing."

"I have an idea who he might be and if he is who I think he is, you have a lot of apologizing to do to Rachel." With this Kurt stopped in his tracks. He clenched his fists and gave Finn the dirtiest look he'd ever seen.

"I'd rather shave my head than apologize to that showboating loser!" Finn was stunned. He knew Kurt was never Rachel's biggest fan, but he didn't know he'd felt so strongly about her.

"So it _is_ Jesse." Kurt nodded.

"Yes, it's Jesse, okay?"

"How could you do that to Rachel?" He was surprised that Kurt was so nonchalant about all this.

Kurt crossed his arms and scoffed. "She deserved it."

"What do you mean, Kurt? We're a team. We're all friends."

Kurt shook his head. "I have plenty of friends in Glee but Rachel is not one of them."

Finn frowned. "That's not cool, man. What's your problem with her?" Kurt looked at Finn like he had two heads. He opened his mouth to say something and closed it. He thought about it for a second and frowned.

"I figured out a long time ago that Rachel and I were very much alike. We both have the same taste in music and theatre. We both have almost the same range. And unfortunately, we have an almost identical taste in guys." He took a deep breath, and looked Finn in the eye. "And she always gets what I want. The attention from guys. The solos. I found the one thing that she can't really have, so sue me If I'm enjoying the attention now." Kurt started to walk away and Finn held him by the arm.

"Listen, Kurt. I know you've had to deal with a lot of bullshit from a lot of people. But when you really get to know her, Rachel is one of the good ones. She's a great friend and I really like her. I want her to be my girlfriend, but now she's with Jesse. We have to think of something. We have to find a way to convince Jesse to break up with Rachel."

"He won't do it. He's not ready to come out yet."

"Well, we have to think of something." Kurt got a wicked glint in his eye and turned to Finn.

"I have an idea. Make sure Rachel shows up in the choir room at 3:15 today."

"Why? Practice isn't until 3:30. Mr. Schue has extra help for Spanish on Wednesdays." Kurt grinned so widely that Finn was sort of freaked out.

"Trust me. Make sure she's there." He started to trot off in the direction of school and Finn followed him.

He had a bad feeling about this. But a plan is a plan.

* * *

He practically stalked Rachel before Spanish. He waited for her at her locker, and he almost did a little dance when she showed up by herself. Every time he had seen her that day, she was with Jesse. She looked startled that he'd been waiting for her at her locker.

"Finn?"

"Hey Rachel."

"What's going on?" Finn shrugged casually.

"Oh nothing. I just wanted to check up on you. See if you're okay." With that Rachel got an irritated look on her face. She hastily shoved her books in her locker and pulled out her Spanish notes.

"Well, I'm fine."

"You weren't fine yesterday. Are things still iffy with Jesse?"

She slammed her locker shut and turned to Finn. "Why do you care?"

Finn was thrown off by her attitude. "You shouldn't be with someone who won't return your feelings. Why wouldn't I care, Rachel? We're friends." He had to choke out the word. He hated it!

"Exactly, Finn. We were friends. And since Sectionals, it was always about _you_. You never asked me a thing about my feelings, but I was all over you making sure you were okay and you had an outlet to talk. Now it seems like since I got a boyfriend, you're all over me." She gave him an incredulous look. "The almost kisses. Holding hands. Why are you doing this? You had your chance. Stop playing games with me!"

Finn stood in the hallway completely floored by the turn in the conversation. "I'm not playing games with you, Rachel. I care about you. I don't think Jesse is the right guy for you. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"You have no authority to tell me what guy is right for me." With this, Finn stepped forward a few paces until he was invading her personal space. He reached out and touched her cheek with the palm of his hand. Her eyes grew wide with shock and she froze.

"I know. I know I can't tell you who to be with because I missed my chance. You were right; it _was_ all about me after Sectionals. I thought I had all the time in the world, you know? I was waiting until I could go a day without wanting to punch something before asking you out. And then it was too late. But that doesn't mean I don't still care about you and your feelings. I just have this hunch, though. We don't know a lot about Jesse and there is something about him that makes me think that you're not going to be happy with him." Her eyes started to tear up. He thought he'd heard the bell in the distance, but he couldn't care less if he was late for Schuester's class. He was still pissed at him anyway.

"Then who will I be happy with, Finn?" He didn't answer her. He just tilted her head up and laid his lips upon hers for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime. She moaned a protest into his mouth but wrapped her arms around his neck anyway. He deepened the kiss once he linked his arms around her waist. It felt so good to be with her. In her arms, her lips on his. He had been aching to feel these emotions again. The feelings he only felt when he was with her. They had only kissed twice before, but he knew that there was a certain way he felt after he kissed Rachel Berry. He felt like he could conquer the world if she asked him to. Either that, or come in his pants.

They broke apart from their kiss and Rachel looked awkward. She looked like she wanted to run away in the opposite direction, but Finn entwined their fingers together so they were holding hands.

"After Spanish today, walk with me before glee." She nodded timidly and didn't move to free her hand. They walked to Spanish, barely noticing how Mr. Schue scolded them for their tardiness.

* * *

Finn spent most of Spanish staring at the clock. He had to be in the choir room by 3:15 with Rachel. What did Kurt have planned for the four of them? A gay-intervention?

He looked over at Rachel, who he was sitting with again today. He resisted the urge to try and hold her hand under the table. He really wanted to touch her again. He had almost forgotten how intoxicating it was to kiss her, and he found himself fighting the urge more and more as the class droned on. But PDA in class was a big no-no, so he scribbled down whatever he saw on the board. None of it made sense.

When the bell rang he walked out of class with Rachel. She stood in the hallway for a minute and refused to take Finn's hand.

"What's up? I thought we were going for a walk?" She shrugged.

"I always wait for Jesse to get out of French after I get out of Spanish. Where is he?" Finn resisted the urge to say "with Kurt" and instead shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. Let's see if we can find him." She nodded and they started to walk around the school with no real destination in mind. All Finn knew was that he had to be in the choir room in 15 minutes, so he walked with her for a bit before he started to lead them towards the choir room. He was enjoying the time they were spending alone together. They hadn't been alone outside of glee and Spanish in a long time, and Finn was savoring the attention he was receiving from her. They chatted idly, and they were about to walk down the music corridor when they heard some familiar voices.

"Hey guys!" It was Artie, Tina, and Mercedes. Uh-oh. They were never part of the plan!

"Hey! We're heading to the choir room, wanna come along?" Rachel was trying to be friendly, but Finn was worried. Kurt was waiting for them in the choir room with Jesse, and God knows what they were actually doing!

"Um, well, you know practice isn't for another 15 minutes." Finn tried desperately to think of an excuse but couldn't think of one on the spot.

"It's okay, we can all just hang together." Artie, Tina, Rachel and Mercedes were oblivious to the plan, and Finn knew this had the potential for catastrophe.

"C'mon guys, let's go!" Rachel started to walk with the other kids and Finn chased after them. Before they got into the room, they saw Puck, Quinn, Matt and Mike. They joined the group as well on their way to the choir room. Finn wanted to scream. This definitely wasn't part of the plan! Before they entered the room, Brittany and Santana met them all outside.

Finn was overwhelmed. What was he going to do? They were going to open that door and see whatever Kurt had planned for him and Rachel. He held his breath while Rachel opened the door and the team went inside. He tried to push himself into the room, but he was the last one in and he stood with the other ten members of New Directions and stared at the scene in front of them.

Jesse had Kurt pressed up against the wall, their bodies wrapped up in a tangle of limbs. They were kissing deeply and Kurt's scarf was on the floor at his feet, his red hickey's visible along with some fresh ones. Jesse continued his assault on Kurts face and neck when Kurt snapped his head around and noticed not only Rachel and Finn, but the entire team staring at them. Kurt hit Jesse on the head and he turned around, shocked that the whole glee club had witnessed a gay make-out session between Kurt and Rachel's boyfriend.

No one said a thing for a good, long minute. It seemed like the longest minute of Finn's life. He looked around the room and saw the same look of shock on everyone's faces. Except for Rachel. She had tears in her eyes. He sighed deeply.

This was his fault. It was his plan, and now it had backfired in everyone's faces. He had to fix this or else Glee would be even more awkward than it already was.

"Okay, everyone out of the room, except for Jesse." He commanded with the most authority he could summon in his voice and the rest of the team left the room to wait in the hall. Kurt walked past Rachel and looked like he wanted to say something to her, but she just turned around on her heel and stormed out of the room in a classic fit. Kurt was the last to leave, and he shot Finn an apologetic look.

"This wasn't the best idea I'd ever had. Sorry, Finn." Finn nodded. He would deal with Kurt later. Kurt left the room, which left only Finn and Jesse. Jesse looked embarrassed and upset. Finn thought he could see tears in his eyes. Finn was about to do something he never thought would be possible.

He was going to talk a gay guy out of the closet.

"Okay, dude. I'm going to lay this all out for you." Finn looked at Jesse with a severe glare. "I don't like you. At all. You stole my solos, and you treated Rachel like crap." Jesse nodded his head solemnly. "But Kurt likes you." With this, Jesse's head snapped up and he looked hopeful.

"He does?"

"Yeah, he does. But he's been though a lot. And he doesn't need a boyfriend who's too chicken shit to accept who he is and acknowledge it."

Jesse's eyes blazed with fury. "You have no idea what it's like for me! People expect way too much from me. I don't know if I could do it, you know? Come out and everything."

"Dude, you think I don't know what it's like to have expectations placed on me? I'm the captain of football, basketball and the _glee club_. I get called a homo more times a day than people actually say my name, and I'm straight. But being in glee taught me that it doesn't matter what people think or expect. All that matters is what makes you happy. Look at Kurt. He was in the closet when we first formed New Directions. But he was able to accept who he was and he came out to all of us, even his dad."

Jesse's head shot up. "He told his dad? And he wasn't disowned?" Finn nodded. He didn't realize how hard it must have been for Burt to accept that Kurt was gay, but he respected him a hundred times more for it.

"No. Burt is a great guy. He might be my step-father one day, which is another reason you can't screw around with Kurt's feelings. He's like a brother to me now."

"I don't know, Finn. I don't think I can do it."

"Listen, we're all friends here; we don't judge. We have a pregnant girl and a gay guy already, who cares if there's another? We're like a family. We accept each other no matter what. You should do what's right by Kurt and Rachel. He deserves a good guy. And she deserves someone who will love her back."

Jesse looked terrified. Before Finn could say another word to him, he bolted straight out of the room. The other glee kids came in after he had run past them all and gave Finn the same confused look.

He sighed. Rachel was crying. Kurt was upset. Jesse was gone, confused, and still in the closet. But now the whole club knew he had a thing for Kurt and not Rachel.

His plan had backfired in the worst way possible.

* * *

Salut mes amis!

Ah the love square that has become Finn/Rachel/Jesse/Kurt! I love it!

Until Next Time. . . *sings* Don't Stop. . .Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


	6. Meet The Parents

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: I hope you're enjoying the drama. Please leave a review to let me know what you think.

* * *

Family Ties

Chapter Five: Meet the Parents

* * *

Mr. Schuester walked into glee rehearsal that afternoon and had to do a double take at what he saw. Finn, Rachel and Kurt were all standing in the middle of the choir room yelling, while the other kids all sat around and watched it unfold like it was an episode of the_ Jersey Shore_.

"What did you say to him, Finn?!" Kurt was red in the face, and Rachel was crying into her hands.

Finn was less than eloquent in his riled up state. "I told him to stop being a chicken shit and dump Rachel so he could date you!" Kurt threw his hands in the air, completely flabbergasted. Rachel looked at him with tears in her angry eyes.

"Oh, thanks a lot, Finn! It's bad enough I was a beard, and now I have to be a beard who got dumped?"

"No! That's not what I meant at all!" Finn was overwhelmed. He was just trying to help! "I just wanted to help him!"

"Well you didn't help, Finn! You probably made it worse!" Kurt looked like he wanted to pull his hair out.

"Stop yelling at Finn." Everyone turned their heads to the door and they noticed Jesse in the doorway, tears still in his eyes. "He was right. He wanted to help me. It's not his fault." Kurt and Rachel both glared daggers at Jesse, and he walked into the room with his hands held up in defense. He took a deep breath and stood in front of the two of them. "I was afraid. I had never even thought about coming out and accepting who I was until I moved here. There is _something_ about this club, this group of people, that make me feel genuinely good about myself for the first time in my life. I have to stop hurting the people who make me so happy." He turned to Rachel. "I'm sorry I ever led you on. It wasn't right for me to play with your emotions. Can we be friends?" Rachel nodded her head but her frown was still set deeply into her face. He turned to Kurt and reached out for his hand. "And I'm sorry, Kurt, for trying to keep this a secret. For not being honest with myself." He took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm gay. And I _really_ care about you, Kurt." Kurt moved forward and wrapped Jesse in a hug. Jesse leaned into the embrace and the audience of glee club members, even Rachel (who was now smiling), started to clap for them.

* * *

Finn tripped over his own feet for the tenth time in the past hour, and Mercedes looked like she wanted to kill him. This time, he had gotten very close to stepping on her shiny new shoes. He mumbled another apology and she whispered a threat about doing serious damage to his man parts if he scuffed her new Deréon wedges. He took her hand and continued the choreography as much as he could. He looked over at Rachel and caught her eye. She turned her head away swiftly and he suppressed a sigh. He tried to focus on Mercedes and the song, but he couldn't stop thinking about Rachel. Sure, Jesse and Kurt were now living in rainbow bliss, but he hadn't had the chance to talk to her yet. Mr. Schuester started rehearsal right away, and he needed to be at a late basketball practice at 5, right after glee.

Mr. Schuester was focusing on group choreography without the leads, so Rachel and Jesse were sitting out and watching practice from behind the piano. He could tell that Rachel and Jesse were talking, but they didn't look hostile. He hoped that they could actually be friends. Finn noticed her watching him dance, which was pretty much the reason why he was tripping over himself so much this afternoon. He wanted to talk to her so badly, and knowing that she was watching him was making him nervous.

And clumsy.

"That's it, white boy! I know they say you kids can't dance, but this is ridiculous!" Mercedes threw her hands up in a diva fit and pointed a finger at Finn. She started to chew him out, interrupting the rehearsal. He stood there and took the abuse until Mr. Schuester cut her off and ended rehearsal a few minutes early. He walked straight up to Rachel, who was trying to leave rehearsal as quickly as possible.

"Rachel, wait!" She turned around and looked at him, flushed and still upset about before.

"You wanted me to see that, didn't you? You led me to the choir room early on purpose!"

"No! That's not it at all. I had no idea that Kurt and Jesse would be doing. . . that. Honestly. I thought we were all just going to talk."

She scoffed. "Yeah, right Finn."

She didn't believe him. Why should she? He didn't have the best track record with her. He wanted to explain everything. He wanted to tell her how it was also about Kurt and helping him find happiness. And about Jesse and helping him realize the truth about himself. It wasn't about hurting her. He'd just wanted her so badly. But when he glanced at the clock above her angry face, he realized he'd run out of time. He had to be in the gym or else it was drills until midnight.

"Rachel, please. I have to go to basketball, but you have to believe me, I swear. . . " He was cut off when both Jesse and Kurt came over to Rachel and flanked her on each side. They both put a hand on her shoulder and looked at Finn.  
Kurt sighed heavily.

"Finn, get to the gym. This was my fault and I'm going to fix this." Kurt looked at Finn solemnly and Finn nodded his head. He shot Rachel one more apologetic look and said thanks as he ran out of the choir room and headed to the gym.

* * *

Finn practically dragged himself home that night. Coach hadn't made him run drills until midnight, but he had to do five laps around the perimeter of the school. His legs felt like jelly under the weight of his heavy gym bag and backpack filled with textbooks.

He walked up to his house and wanted nothing more than to eat a good meal. He was absolutely starving. He walked in and smelled the aroma of his favorite meal. Turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes. Thanksgiving food. He always thought it was stupid that people only really ate turkey and the fixings once a year. He thought it was the best meal ever! But then he'd realized it was because a turkey was huge and could feed a ton of people, and it was expensive. So he never really got to eat it unless it was the holiday; but his mom always knew it was his favorite.

But four people wasn't really enough to have all of this food. He looked on the table and noticed even more food. And extra chairs and place settings. . .

"Ah, you're home!" His mom came out of the kitchen in her best apron and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We've all been waiting for you to get here. Burt is still going to be working for another half hour, but we've been preparing this dinner all evening! It'll be a late dinner, but still delicious." We? Who the hell is we?

"Who's here?"

He looked over towards the living room and Rachel, Jesse and Kurt all came out with matching aprons on. He stood in the entrance of his house and let his gym bag and backpack fall off of his shoulder with a giant thud.

What the hell was going on here?!

Kurt came up to him and did a little twirl in his apron. "We talked to Rachel after glee and explained everything. We all thought you deserved a nice meal and your mom told us what your favorite food was. We all made it for you! As a thanks."

He looked over at Rachel and she nodded and smiled timidly. He walked over to her and held out his hand. She took it.

"Can we talk?" She nodded. He led her towards his room and he heard his mom, Kurt and Jesse all share squeals of delight.

They went into his room and he noticed her looking around. He sat down on the bed and she sat down next to him. They were still holding hands.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry. For everything. Jesse, Kurt. . .me. . ." He frowned. "I messed up again."

"No, you didn't. Kurt explained everything to me."

"What did he say to you?" She looked at him and frowned.

"That it was his idea to have us walk on him making out with Jesse. He said he'd wanted to hurt my feelings but that he was sorry. He wants to bury the hatchet, I guess. We worked out a lot of our issues. Well, they were mostly his issues, but still. It's a start." He was glad. He didn't want any hard feelings between them. He was still a little angry at Kurt for the set-up, though.

"I just wanted things to work out for the four of us, you know. The situation wasn't fair to any of us, and I'm sorry you had to get hurt in the process." She looked up at him and smiled ruefully.

"I should have known, you know? I grew up with two gay dads and Jesse almost had me fooled. I should have known when he beat me at Barbara Streisand trivia one night. I just liked that there was someone who had asked me to be their girlfriend. It was nice for a few days. But I'm glad he was able to come out." She looked up at him. "You did a really great thing for Jesse and Kurt, Finn. You're a good person."

"I'm really not. I had no idea what I was doing."

"Kurt said some other things to me, though. About you." Finn's eyebrows shot up in shock, and he felt his palms grow sweaty in her hand.

"Really? What did he say?"

She finally smiled, a true and happy Rachel Berry smile. "He said that you we're a hot, adorable, mess and that I should go easy on you."

"Yeah. I am a hot mess sometimes. I'm working on it, though." She squeezed his hand.

"And he also said you were crazy about me." She added with a smirk. He felt his heart stutter in his chest. Panic spread throughout his body._  
__  
__That asshole._

He was flustered and his face was burning from the blush that spread from forehead to neck. "Um. . .Rachel, you know. . .I mean. . I think. . .ah, _shit_. . .give me a second to think okay?" She nodded, and looked amused while he gathered his thoughts. He nodded to himself, and looked up at Rachel with determination in his gaze. "I haven't been great to you. I am going to make it up to you now. I'm not going to let another second pass without telling you how I feel." He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. She was waiting for him to continue and he almost lost himself in the depth of her gaze. "I like you, Rachel. More than like; like isn't enough." He struggled to find the words and he really wished he had payed more attention in English class. "I _need_ you. There are so many things I wish I knew how to say to you. . ." He stopped talking when Rachel placed one of her tiny hands on his massive jaw. She turned his head around to look down, and she leaned up onto her knees to plant the softest, most delicate kiss on his lips. His heart started beating frantically in his chest, and he deepened the kiss and wanted to shout in joy.

He enveloped her in a massive hug that crushed her to his chest and buried her against his giant frame. He felt like he could hold her there forever. When he was holding her, he didn't need words. They understood everything without having to say a thing. It was a blessing for Finn, who struggled so much with vocabulary. She _knew_, and her understanding of his unspoken feelings made his heart swell with emotion. He was pretty sure this emotion was love. The realization made him hold her even tighter to him. He never wanted to let her go now that he knew the truth.

He whispered to her while they were still locked in each others arms, "I think I love you, Rachel. I want us to be together from now on. I don't ever want to hurt you again." He felt her nodding in his arms, and he placed a kiss on her forehead. She pulled away and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Really?" Her hesitant tone pierced his heart and he knew what she needed to hear.

"Really. Rachel Berry, would you be my girlfriend?" Her responding smile was small, then it started to stretch across her face and bring light and joy into her eyes. He bent down and captured her lips in a soft and loving kiss.

"Finn! Rachel!" He heard his mother call them from the kitchen, and they broke apart and stood up. He took her hand.

"C'mon, I have to introduce you to my mom!" She looked confused.

"But I already met your mom; we spent the past three hours cooking together!" He shook his head.

"Let me rephrase that. I have to introduce my _girlfriend_ to my mom." She grinned and followed him into the kitchen. Kurt and Jesse were putting the final touches on the table, while Finn and Rachel talked to his mother. She swept the two of them up in a giant mom-hug and kissed them both on the cheek.

"This is fantastic! I get to meet Rachel and Burt gets to meet Jesse! And we all get to eat like a family!" Carole exclaimed and Finn felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He hadn't even realized that with Jesse here, he would have to meet Burt. How was he going to react to his gay son's first boyfriend?

He realized he was going to find out sooner rather than later, because the front door opened and Burt walked in, covered with grease and dirt. He took one look around at Carole and his dining room full of teenagers and gave them all a funny look.

"Kurt, Carole, Finn. What's going on?" Carole rushed over to Burt and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"We're having a meet-the-parents night! Finn brought over his new girlfriend, Rachel. And Kurt has someone he'd like you to meet, as well." Burt looked at his son and noticed him holding hands with the unknown boy in his dining room. Kurt stepped forward and walked up to Burt with Jesse following him.

"Dad. This is Jesse. He's my boyfriend." Burt looked Jesse up and down, a severe frown on his face. He looked over at his son, who was looking expectantly at his father for his reaction. Burt coughed and looked a little bit uncomfortable but held out his hand after a few tense seconds.

"It's nice to meet you, Jesse." Jesse smiled and shook his hand. Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of relief.

"All right, kids. We've been slaving over this meal all night long. Let's eat!" Carole said it enthusiastically and the teenagers all sat around the table while Burt carved the turkey. Finn sat next to Rachel and squeezed her hand before they started to load their plates.

Finn smiled as he picked up the silver cutlery and prepared to eat his meal. He loaded a huge piece of turkey onto his fork and dipped it in the sweet potatoes. He wanted to sing when the delicious food hit his tongue.

He looked up at the table and almost laughed at his family and friends all eating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of March.

He smiled. It didn't have to be November to be thankful for what you had.

Or eat an amazing turkey dinner.

* * *

Salut mes amis!

I love turkey dinners! Stuffing, sweet potatoes, I wish I could eat some right now!

Until Next Time. . .*sings* Don't Stop. . . Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


	7. Betrayal

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Ah HA! I bet you thought it was over! Well it's not! In fact, something is afoot. . .

* * *

Family Ties

Chapter Six: Betrayal

* * *

Finn felt like he was going to pass out after he ate his dinner. He stuffed as much food into his mouth as humanly possible, and Rachel looked borderline disgusted when he refilled his plate a fourth time. He didn't care, though. He was in culinary heaven.

Dinner was very. . .interesting, to say the least. Rachel and Jesse were very charming and made good impressions on Burt and Carole. They chatted idly and even gave the adults a taste of what New Directions had been working on earlier that day. In hindsight, he shouldn't have tried to dance after eating four plates full of meat and starches.

After dinner, he said goodnight to Rachel. He never thought she would meet his mom so fast, but he was happy that she did. His mom seemed to like her. And she really knew her way around a kitchen!

Before bed, Finn pulled Kurt aside. He still had beef with him that they hadn't yet settled from earlier that day.

"I know it all worked out for us, but did you really have to set it up so Rachel would get hurt? I thought we were all going to talk."

He looked apologetic. "I was still bitter. I already apologized to her, though."

"Yeah, well you owe me an apology, too. Rachel is my girlfriend now. And you have to promise me you'll make an effort to be her friend."

Kurt nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry, Finn. Rachel is actually okay, if you tune out half of what she says."

Finn sighed. Kurt would have to work on that.

* * *

The first few weeks after he and Rachel had started dating, things were actually. . .good. For the first time in a long time. He was happy with Rachel and tried to spend every minute he could with her. It never seemed like enough. He couldn't wait for basketball to be over so he could spend weekends with her. He normally had away games on the weekends and they really only spent the evenings together. They also didn't have much alone time with each other; her dads were always vigilant and his house was always full of people nowadays. But he didn't mind all that much. He wanted to take things slowly anyway. They had all the time in the world.

Things at home were great, too. He was getting more and more comfortable living at the Hummel's, and his mom had never looked happier. Finn was getting along great with Burt, too. He helped him in Burt's auto shop sometimes when he needed an extra hand and actually got paid for it. He saved the money for his dates with Rachel.

Kurt was floating on cloud nine these days. He was deliriously happy with Jesse and it was reflecting in his attitude. He was getting along with Rachel, and stopped criticizing her personality. Kurt even took out Rachel and Carole for a spa day. Jesse became a staple around the house, and Finn made peace with the fact that he sang most of the solos in glee. Every Friday, the family would have dinner with Rachel and Jesse. It became a tradition, and Finn was growing fond of his extended "family."

Until the last week of March. That's when things took a turn for the worse.

Regionals were in a few weeks. Mr. Schuester had the team practice whenever they had a spare minute. Free periods, lunchtime, after school, Friday nights. . .it seemed like glee club had taken over their lives. Finn still had to balance basketball and school somewhere in-between the non-stop glee rehearsals, and he was exhausted.

One afternoon in late March, Finn was running very late to a rehearsal. Ms. Rollins made him stay late to make up the Math quiz he'd failed, and now he was almost a half an hour late for rehearsal. He ran down the hallway and noticed Jesse by the choir room doors, on the phone. He could hear the conversation echoing down the empty hallway. It was clear Jesse was unaware of his presence. His tone was frantic, and stressed.

"Yeah, I'm at rehearsal now. . .What else do you want me to do? . . .I think I've found out enough, Shelby! I don't want to do this anymore. . .uh-huh. . .yeah I want to win, but I've been here for almost a month. . .alright. . .I have the songs and the setlist. . .I'll transfer back to Carmel in a week. . .fine. . .bye." Jesse hung up the phone and when he turned around to walk back into the choir room, Finn was standing right behind him, blocking his path. He looked alarmed and started to stutter nervously. "H-Hey Finn, why are you so late to rehearsal?"

Finn didn't answer. Instead he grabbed Jesse by the collar of the shirt and pulled him up so he was on his tip-toes.

"You're a spy?" Finn couldn't believe it. He started to shake him a little bit and his eyes blazed with fury. "You're a god-damned spy?!" Jesse looked terrified and the choir room doors opened. Kurt came out into the hallway and saw his boyfriend being held by the shirt, inches off the ground.

"What's going on here, Finn? What are you doing to Jesse?" Finn looked down at Jesse and pulled him into the choir room. He interrupted the rehearsal and let go of Jesse so he was standing in front of the group. Everyone looked shocked.

"Tell us the truth, Jesse. If you don't say anything, I will." Jesse looked around at all the members of the glee club and his eyes lingered on Kurt's. He bowed his head and refused to say a word. Finn wanted to pull out his hair. _Of course_ it would have to be up to him to tell the truth.

He pointed at Jesse. "He's been lying to us the whole time. Did anyone ever bother to ask _where_ he transferred from? At all? He transferred from _Carmel_. He's been a spy for them all along." The glee kids all let out heir own exclamations of shock, and Kurt looked completely heartbroken. He walked up to Jesse with tears in his eyes. Jesse looked at Kurt with deep sadness and regret etched into his face.

"Is it true, Jesse?" He looked at Kurt with panic in his eyes.

After a few seconds, he nodded. "Kurt, please. . ."

Kurt slapped him in the face.

"Are you really gay, too? Or was that all a lie?"

"No, Kurt! This is really who I am. I didn't want to be a spy. Well, I mean, at first it didn't matter. But then when I got to know you all, I wanted to stop. I really did." Jesse looked at everyone with desperation in his eyes. "I don't even want to go back to Carmel now that I know what it's like to be accepted into a group as great as yours. I never knew glee could be fun until I joined New Directions. At Carmel, it's like torture. Please, you have to believe that I was really your friend. I'll lie to them. I'll give them fake songs."

Everyone shook their heads. No one looked sympathetic to his situation.

"Go back to Carmel, Jesse. They'll believe _all_ of your lies there." Kurt practically snarled at him.

Finn winced. Jesse wasn't out of the closet yet at home. He would have to go back to pretending he was straight again.

One by one the members of New Directions left the choir room until only Kurt, Jesse, Finn and Rachel remained. Jesse now had tears in his eyes.

"Kurt, please. I was lying to the team, but not to you. I need you, Kurt. I can't go back there. I can't be myself in Carmel." Kurt shook his head. He turned around and walked out of the room without another word to Jesse. Jesse ran his hands through his hair and looked over to Finn. "Are you going to kick the crap out of me or something? Beat the fag when he's down?"

"No. I'm going to tell you something. For the future." Finn took a deep breath. He was never the most eloquent person to ever walk the earth, but he had something he needed to say. "I'm a pretty simple guy; I don't know a lot about the world and the universe and stuff. But the thing I know that is most important, is _family_. I'm lucky to have two of them." He looked down at Rachel, who was standing with him. "I have my glee family and my family at home." He looked up at Jesse and his gaze was serious. "And I let you into both of my families. I accepted you, even when I didn't even like you all that much. And now, you've just betrayed both of them. Go back to Carmel, Jesse. If you tell them anything about New Directions, then you'll live forever knowing how much you betrayed our family. Don't come back."

The tears were falling freely from Jesse's face now. Jesse spared one more look at both Finn and Rachel and walked dejectedly out of the choir room. Finn slumped into the nearest chair and ran his hands over his face in frustration. Rachel sat next to him and rubbed his back.

He was furious. He felt betrayed. Kurt's heart was broken. His club had no male lead. It was a good thing he still had Rachel; she was the anchor he could cling to when the seas got rough. He looked up at her and she kept rubbing his back in wide circles, distracting him from the feeling of wanting to punch something.

"We're totally screwed, Rach. Kurt's probably crying rivers. We don't know if Jesse will leak our material. Things were just starting to get good again!" She gave him an encouraging smile that broke through the angry haze in his mind.

"I'm really proud of the way you handled Jesse. I don't think he'll betray us. I believed him when he said he was happy here."

"You did?" She nodded.

"Yeah. Growing up with two gay dads really helped me realize how important it was to have people in your life who accept you no matter what. Jesse had that here. He had friends and people who cared about him and let him express himself in a way they never allowed in Carmel. I want to trust him. And I want you to trust him, too." He looked over at Rachel and had to smile. She was so beautiful; inside and out. She believed in people, accepted them, and trusted them. Even when they had done her wrong. He bent his head down and captured her lips in a delicate kiss.

"You're too forgiving, you know that?" She blushed and kissed him on the cheek. She playfully slapped him on the knee.

"C'mon, you. We have to get practicing." How were they going to practice? The team was gone!

"For what?"

"Your lead solos! I have to teach you Jesse's choreography and his harmonies for all the songs!" He smiled. He never even realized in all the shock about Jesse that he would get his lead solos back.

"All right, then! From the top!"

* * *

Finn walked into the house later that night feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Rachel had been working him for the past three hours on all the details of the choreography, and his brain felt like it was running on overdrive. He walked in and his mom and Burt came up to him right away.

"What happened at school today?" Burt looked furious. "Kurt won't come out of the basement and he said something happened with Jesse."

"I'm worried, Finn. He won't eat dinner."

Finn ran a hand over his face, trying to relieve the pressure of a headache he felt coming on. "Jesse had been lying to the club. It turned out he was a spy for one of our competing schools at Regionals."

Burt looked even more furious than before. "That little punk played my boy for a fool? And we invited him into this house! If he ever comes round here again, I'll grab my shotgun!"

Carole pat Burt on the arm. "It's okay, honey. All kids get their heart broken sometime or another."

Finn sighed. "I'll try to talk to him." Burt and Carole nodded, and Finn went up to the basement door. It was locked. He knocked on the door. He heard no sign of any movement.

"Kurt? It's Finn. Can we talk, buddy?" No answer. He sighed. He really couldn't say much through the door with their parents listening, but he tried his hardest to find the right words. "Dude. I know today sucked. But I believed Jesse when he said he was happy here. He might have screwed the team over, but I think he was telling the truth. Especially about you." He exhaled deeply and turned around to walk away, thinking he had done his best. The door opened and Finn turned around to see Kurt, with bloodshot eyes and messy hair.

"You think so?" Kurt sniffled.

"Yeah. I think once he gets back to Carmel, he's going to realize everything he'd lost." Kurt smiled at Finn and walked up to him. He opened his arms widely and gave the tall boy a hug. Finn looked at his mom and Burt with his eyes wide open in shock, but put an arm on Kurt's shoulder and patted it awkwardly. "It'll be okay, man. There are plenty of other guys out there."

Kurt got a wicked glint in his eye and winked at Carole. "Oh Finn, I never realized how nice it felt to be in your arms. . ." Kurt said with a giggle.

Finn looked down and shot him the "Don't Hit On Me" look. He took two steps backwards and heard Kurt laughing with his mom. He and Burt looked uncomfortable.

"Alright, that's enough of that!"

Kurt continued to laugh and sniffled lightly. "Thanks, Finn."

Finn ruffled his hair. Kurt slapped his hands away.

"No problem, bro."

* * *

Salut mes amis!

The pain of betrayal! Poor Kurt, Poor Jesse!

Until Next Time *sings* Don't Stop. . . Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


	8. Acceptance

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Here is the final chapter before the epilogue is posted. I can't thank my beta, hope813 enough! Go read her stories and review them until the cows come home. We're going to go see Glee live in concert in NYC together. BE JEALOUS OF US.

* * *

Family Ties

Chapter Seven: Acceptance

* * *

"No, Mercedes!" Kurt yelled from the basement. Finn sighed. He felt bad for Mercedes. She had been trying to get Kurt to come out of the basement and go out with her, Tina, and Artie for the better part of an hour. Kurt was not having it. He had barely left the basement the week since Jesse transferred back to Carmel. He really only came up to go to school and glee.

"But we're going to see _The Wizard of Oz_ at the retro drive-in in Elida. You said you'd wanted a reason to wear your ruby slippers! Here's your chance." Finn took a second to wonder why Kurt would have a pair of ruby slippers, but was distracted by Kurt's response.

"I'm not going out! For the last time, I'll see you at glee in the morning." Mercedes shook her head and looked desperately at Finn. Finn just shrugged, helpless to do anything.

"Okay, Kurt. See you tomorrow." Finn shot Mercedes a sympathetic look. "Are you sure you and Rachel don't want to come?"

Finn shook his head. "I don't feel right leaving him here alone. Our parents are out for the night. Rachel is coming over and we'll hang here. It's cool." Mercedes nodded.

"See you in the morning, Finn." They all had an early glee rehearsal in the morning because Regionals were a week away. He walked her to the door.

"Have fun tonight. Tell Artie and Tina we say hi." He closed the door behind her and went to clean up his room. He looked at the clock. Rachel should be arriving soon for their date. He felt bad, though. He knew inviting Rachel over for a quiet Friday night alone wasn't in Kurt's best interest, but he seriously barely left the basement. And as long as Burt and his mom was gone, he was going to take full advantage of having an almost-empty house.

He went into the kitchen and pulled out the take-out menus. They would order some food when she arrived. He rented them a movie and pulled out a bag of popcorn to pop. He heard the doorbell rang and smoothed out his hair in the mirror by the foyer. He opened up the door expecting his girlfriend.

Instead, Jesse was on his doorstep.

He looked _terrible_. His clothes were ripped and dirty. He had cuts all over his body. He looked as if he'd been in a fight. That wasn't the worst part though. He had a swollen, puffy black eye that covered most of the right side of his face. His lip was busted and scabbed over. He looked like he hadn't slept. And he was sobbing like a child.

"Jesse." He was too shocked by his appearance to even think about being angry. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I tried. I couldn't. . ." He looked as if he was going to keel over.

"Come in, man." He couldn't turn him away. Even after everything he had done to the group, to Rachel, and to Kurt. He couldn't turn his back on someone who looked so beat up.

Jesse walked into the house and sat at the dining room table. "Is Kurt home?"

"Yeah. You want me to get him?"

Jesse started to choke up again. His voice was thick with emotion. "Yeah. Please."

Finn nodded. He went over to the basement door and knocked. "Finn, I swear if you people don't leave me alone, I'm running away to Key West and becoming a go-go dancer!"

"Jesse is here, Kurt. He looks like someone beat the crap out of him." He heard Kurt run up the stairs, and he burst out of the basement door. He went into the kitchen and saw Jesse at the table, beaten and bruised.

"Jesse?" Kurt looked at Jesse in horror.

"Kurt." Jesse could barely choke out the word, there was so much emotion in his voice.

"What happened?" He walked over and sat next to him. Jesse buried his head in Kurt's lap and cried. Kurt looked at Finn completely stunned. He started to stroke Jesse's hair and he cried even harder.

Before Jesse could calm down long enough to speak, Finn heard the doorbell ring again. This time he was positive it was Rachel; and there she was, smiling and oblivious to the crying gay guy in his dining room. He took one look at her, and she could immediately tell that something was wrong without needing Finn to explain.

"What's wrong?" How did she _do_ that?

"Jesse showed up behind my door about five minutes ago. He won't stop crying long enough to tell us what happened. He's with Kurt in the dining room." Rachel nodded and went straight into the house looking worried. She sat down at the table and waited for Jesse to calm down. Finn did the same.

After a few minutes, Jesse finally lifted his head off of Kurt's lap. Rachel gasped when she saw his bruised face. Kurt held Jesse's hand and squeezed it.

"Tell us what happened, Jesse." Jesse nodded his head.

"I tried. I tried to go back. I went home and pretended everything was the way it was before. I went to rehearsal and they kept asking me what I had found out about the club. I couldn't tell them. I didn't want to betray the only people who had ever treated me like a real person. You don't know what the pressure is like at Carmel. Shelby, our advisor, makes us practice non-stop. Dakota Stanley makes us feel terrible about ourselves. After a few days of the constant pressuring, I snapped. I told them how much better New Directions was because it was a team who really cared about each other and the music. I refused to share your secrets, so they kicked me out and my teammates beat the crap out of me. When I went home, I told my parents what had happened. I told them the truth. Everything. How Shelby hadn't sent me to dance camp; she'd sent me here. I told them about the spying and the betrayal. And I told them I was gay. They threw me out of the house." Jesse looked up at the only people that had ever accepted him. "I didn't know where else to go. I don't have a family anymore. So I came here." Finn was floored. He looked over at Rachel and she had tears in her eyes. Kurt looked visibly upset, too.

"You're always welcome here, Jesse." Kurt squeezed his hand and Jesse looked at him with watery eyes.

"Kurt, I missed you so much. I'm so sorry." Kurt placed a finger over his lips.

"Shh. I forgive you." Kurt bent over and gave Jesse a kiss on his bruised lip. "C'mon. We should get you out of those clothes. You look a hot mess!" He led Jesse to the basement, and Finn just stared after them in shock.

He couldn't believe what Jesse had done. He had sacrificed everything; his life, his home, and his family to protect New Directions. He turned around to Rachel, who still looked upset. She turned to Finn with watery eyes.

"We have to help him, Finn. Look at what he did for us." Finn nodded.

"Yeah, but how? He's got no place to go. Burt will whip out his shotgun if he stays here!" He took Burt's threats very seriously, especially regarding Kurt. He noticed a small smile creep on to Rachel's face.

"I think I know a place he can stay." She whipped out her cell phone an dialed a number. "Hello, Daddy? I have an emergency that only a compassionate and understanding person like yourself would be able to help me with. . ." Finn stared at her open-mouthed while she continued to talk to her dads. She told them the whole story regarding Jesse, his espionage and his return to Lima.

"And he has no where to go. . .uh-huh. . .I see. . .okay Daddy. . .we'll be there in a little while. I love you. Bye." She closed the phone and looked up at Finn with a brilliant smile.

"What's going on Rachel?"

"My dads told me that Jesse can live with us. We have an extra bedroom."

"They're seriously going to let him stay there?"

"Of course, Finn. They know what it's like to be young and confused and on the streets. Both of my dads were kicked out when they were younger. I knew they would be more than happy to accept Jesse into the family."

Finn shook his head in awe. She was so compassionate and caring. She was willing to accept Jesse into her own home, even after everything that had happened. He leaned over and gave her a tender kiss filled with gratitude. She always had a solution to all of his problems.

Jesse and Kurt came back upstairs and Jesse was in some clean clothes. Rachel went up to Jesse and told him the news.

"I talked to my dads about your situation, Jesse. If you want, my house has an extra bedroom and my dads are willing to let you stay with us." Jesse looked like he was on the verge of tears again.

"Really?"

Rachel smiled. "Really. You can stay with us and transfer back to McKinley. I'm sure the glee club would be more than happy to welcome you back. Once they find out what lengths you went through to protect us." Jesse looked at Finn, Rachel and Kurt with gratitude etched into the contours of his beaten face.

"I can't thank you enough. I don't know what I would have done without you guys."

Kurt squeezed his hand. "That's what family is for."

* * *

Finn ordered food for the four of them and begrudgingly let them watch _Rent_ for what seemed like the millionth time. Yeah, it's a great movie. . .the first 15 times you are forced to watch it with people who sing throughout the whole thing!

Rachel had nodded off against his shoulder sometime after Angel died, and he wrapped an arm around her and held her against his chest while she slept. In her sleep, she cuddled close to him. He held her softy and noticed that she kind of snored. It was the cutest noise he'd ever heard. Jesse and Kurt were sitting next to him, sobbing throughout the second half of the movie.

His mom and Burt came home from their dinner sometime after the movie ended. By then, Rachel and Jesse had fallen asleep on the couch. Both Kurt and Finn detached their significant others from their bodies, trying not to wake them, and went into the kitchen to talk to their parents. Burt was surprised to see Kurt out of the basement.

"Hey Kurt. Is it Audrey Hepburn weekend on AMC again?"

"No, Dad. Something happened with Jesse tonight."

Kurt and Finn told Burt and Carole about Jesse and his plans to stay in Lima. Carole looked horrified when she was told Jesse's story, and Burt looked solemn throughout, as well. Burt nodded and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"When I think of those parents, and how they could just turn away a son like that. . .it makes me sick. He'll always be welcome here. In fact, I insist that Jesse, Rachel and her fathers come over for dinner tomorrow night. After you kids get out of glee."

Glee was tense the next morning. The entire group was still wary of Jesse and his possible connections to Carmel. But after Finn, Kurt and Rachel explained the whole story to Mr. Schuester and the team, Jesse was welcomed back into the group. He refused to take back any of the solos that Finn offered him. Jesse said he didn't mind being part of the chorus. He was just happy to be competing in Regionals with New Directions and not Vocal Adrenaline.

After rehearsal, Finn, Rachel, Kurt and Jesse all went back to the Hummel's for dinner. Rachel's dads, Ike and Ira, were already there, chatting with Carole while Burt watched hockey. All the teens helped in the kitchen, and they all sat down for a delicious dinner. Before they could start eating, Burt stood up and lifted his glass.

"I want to make a toast. To family. I look around the table and I see a group of very different people who have something very special in common. Love." He looked down at Carole and squeezed her hand. He looked over at Ira, Ike, Jesse, and Rachel, "I am so grateful to have met these wonderful new friends." He turned to look at Finn, Kurt and Carole, "And I've been blessed with amazing people I love." He raised his glass. "To family."

Everyone around the table repeated the toast and people clinked their glasses. Everyone was hungry and wanted to start eating. Finn couldn't help himself. He'd started stuffing his face with food the second Burt stopped talking. Rachel hit him in the side with her elbow to get his attention. He looked up with a mouth full of food. Burt hadn't sit down, yet.

"There's something else we haven't had the chance to say. Last night we were so preoccupied with other things that we couldn't share the good news!" Carole stood up and held up her hand. A hand that had a shiny, diamond ring on the third finger. . .

Finn almost choked on his food.

"We're getting married!"

* * *

Salut mes amis!

Epilogue up tomorrow!

Until Next Time. . .*sings* Don't Stop. . .Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


	9. Epilogue

DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Voila! Family Ties is over! Enjoy the Epilogue. Be on the lookout for my next story. Please review. It makes The Minsk happy. :)

And a happy Minsk writes awesome Finchel fanfiction.

* * *

Family Ties

Epilogue

* * *

**December 2010**

"Son of a . . ." Finn grumbled while he tried to fix the bow-tie that would not lie straight on his neck. He was standing in front of a full length mirror, and no matter how many times he tried to retie it, he couldn't get it right.

"C'mere, son, let me help. . ." Burt came over to Finn and fixed his bow-tie the right way. Finn was surprised at how well he could tie one of these things. He looked up at his soon-to-be stepfather. He actually looked pretty decent when you wiped all the dirt and grease off of him. He looked good in a tux.

Finn looked down at Burt tying his bow-tie. The past nine months had been like a blur. He couldn't believe that exactly a year ago, he and his mom were still living in his old house across town. Now he couldn't imagine life without the Hummels. Things had moved so fast in the beginning, he'd been glad that they had decided to wait until they had been together for almost a year to officially tie the knot. Compared to last December, it seemed like he was living a different life. He had a girlfriend, a step-father, a step-brother. . .

And New Directions was on their way to the State Championships.

"Do you have the rings?" Finn placed his hand on his lapel pocket for what seemed like the millionth time that morning. He was not going to be the one to ruin his mother's wedding and forget the rings. He felt the little bulge in his jacket pocket and staved off the feeling of panic that would seize him whenever he thought of the rings.

"Yeah. They're right here." Burt nodded and Jesse poked his head in the room.

"Five minutes, guys!" Jesse came in and started to fuss over Finn's hair.

"Back off, Jesse. I told you that you weren't allowed to put stuff in my hair!" Jesse scoffed.

"Well I'm not facing my boyfriend's wrath when he complains that you ruined the photos with your flyaway hair. Bend down, Andre the Giant!" Burt stepped away from Finn after he tied the bowtie and Finn allowed Jesse to put some product in his hair. Sometimes he thought if Burt wasn't around, he would be the only person in their little "family" with an ounce of testosterone.

"Where's Kurt?"

Jesse laughed. "Where do you think? Doing your Mother's hair and makeup. He just finished Rachel's." His heart skipped at the mention of his girlfriend's name. His hand automatically reached for his right pants pocket. The wedding rings weren't the only pieces of jewelry he had on him today.

He felt the little box he'd been hiding all morning. It was Rachel's Christmas present, but he wanted to give it to her today. He was nervous about the whole prospect of giving her this gift. Kurt and Jesse said giving jewelry to a girl was a big deal, and he was worried about her reaction. It was more than just a Christmas present, though. That's why he wanted to give it to her today. It was special. It meant something more.

After Jesse fixed his hair, he looked at himself in the mirror again. He had to smile. He didn't look half bad in a tux! He pulled out the little box and looked at Rachel's present. It was a white gold locket, with the initials "F&R" inscribed on the front. Inside the heart-shaped pendant was a picture of Finn and another of Rachel. He had used the Glee club yearbook picture from last year and cut out both of their faces. They were the only ones small enough to fit.

This present had him feeling like a total chick. He had gotten the original idea from Kurt and Jesse, but he'd become obsessed with the gift once he'd bought it. He wanted it to be perfect for Rachel. She deserved perfection. He had spent more money on this one gift than he had ever spent on anything else in his life. Thank God Burt had made him an official part-timer at the garage. He'd been earning good money since the spring, and he was really starting to think cars were his calling. Rachel called him her giant grease monkey.

"You ready, Finn?" He looked up at Burt and noticed that he and Jesse were ready to go. He could hear organ music in the background. This was it. Time for the big show.

He followed the other guys out of the room and stood in line to enter the church. He saw Kurt and didn't know whether to laugh or cry of embarrassment. Kurt was asked to be his mother's Maid of Honor, and Finn was asked to be Best Man. Jesse and Rachel were also in the wedding party, but Carole and Burt had wanted their sons to fill the most important roles. Kurt was on cloud nine because he got to be called a maid all day. And he had free reign on all the makeup and fashion of the wedding. He had picked out the dresses, the color schemes, even the floral arrangements. He had remarked that wedding planning made him even happier than shopping, and he and Jesse joked that they were going to open a Wedding Planning business.

He stood next to Kurt in the line. They had to walk down the aisle together. He was wearing a tux, thank god, but he had his own bouquet. He tried to suppress his embarrassment that he was the only guy who had to walk down the aisle with another dude. He would rather be with Rachel, but as he looked around the line, he couldn't see her. She had to walk with Jesse, a fact that he tried not to let get to him. Yeah, they were practically brother and sister these days, but it still bothered him. The music became louder and louder and Kurt elbowed him in the side.

"Do you have the rings?" Finn nodded and felt his lapel pocket for the final time. The doors opened, and he and Kurt entered the church.

It wasn't the biggest church, but it was filled with practically the whole town. All of Burt's clients, all of Carole's friends, and even the entire glee club had showed up for the ceremony. Finn took his place next to Burt and turned around to see the rest of the wedding party and his mom come down the aisle.

He finally noticed Rachel and wanted to jump out of his position and kiss her senseless. She looked stunningly beautiful. She was the only bridesmaid, and she wore the strapless crimson dress like it was painted on her. It hugged her figure and accentuated her long legs in her high-heels. He didn't know what Kurt had done to her hair, but she looked amazing. It was pinned up in an elegant twist, with wispy strands of hair framing her face. She had small red flowers and baby's breath in her hair, like a crown. She held the small red bridesmaid's bouquet, and when she made eye contact with Finn, she beamed at him.

All of a sudden, his mind had wandered a million miles away. Instead of a red dress, she was suddenly wearing white. Instead of a crown of flowers, she had a veil. And instead of Burt waiting at the end of the aisle, it was him. The image stayed in his mind for a split second before he was pulled back to the present, with Rachel walking towards her position on the podium.

His heart started to pound. This wedding was really getting to him.

She walked up onto the bride's side of the podium and got in place while Jesse did the same next to him. The guests stood up in wait for the bride. He looked up and was filled with happiness when he saw his mother. She had never looked more happy or more beautiful in his entire life. He was grateful that Burt was in her life to make her this happy. She walked down the aisle and he felt his chest tighten with emotion.

This wedding was turning him into a girl.

His mother joined Burt in the front of the church and the priest started to begin the ceremony. He was filled with emotion. He noticed that Kurt, Rachel and Jesse all had tears in their eyes.

He stared at Rachel for the better part of the ceremony. He couldn't get that image from before out of his head. It was bugging him and making him think very girly things. He was pulled out of his fantasy by the Priest.

"Do you have the rings?" He pulled the rings out of his lapel pocket and it felt like the weight of the world was lifted off of his shoulders. Burt placed a ring on Carole's finger.

"Do you Burt, take Carole, to be your lawfully wedded wife?" He saw Burt say yes, but in his mind, he heard; _"Do you Finn, take Rachel. . ."_ He shook his head and tried to clear the idea out of his mind.

He looked up at Rachel again and realized what his subconscious was trying to tell him.

He wanted to marry her.

The epiphany left him feeling dizzy at the podium.

He thought about it some more. Did he really think he could marry Rachel? Not now. Definitely not now. But after high school, far, far, FAR in the future. . .yeah . .he could totally see himself marrying her.

He grinned like an idiot throughout the rest of the ceremony.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride!" The entire church clapped when Burt and Carole kissed, and Finn pulled Rachel to the side when the guests followed them out to their limo. They still had to go to the reception, but Finn hoped he had a few minutes to spare.

"What's up, Finn? We're going to miss them leave in the limo!"

He shook his head. "I know, but I can't wait any longer. I have something for you." He reached into his pocket and she looked at him with wide eyes. He pulled out the little velvet box and he thought her eyes couldn't get any wider.

"Rachel. This was supposed to be your Christmas present, but this wedding is turning me into a straight-up chick. I love you. And I want you to always know how much I care." He opened the box and she stared at the heart shaped locket with her mouth wide open. "It's a locket." He picked up the jewelry out of the box and opened up the pendant to show her the pictures. She touched the inscription on the front when he passed it to her. She was smiling, but tears were falling down her face. "Do you not like it?"

She shook her head violently. "NO! I love it! I'm just still emotional from the wedding and this is too beautiful. I love you, Finn. So much." He smiled and bent down to kiss her. His lips lingered on hers and he wished there wasn't a caravan of people waiting outside for them.

Kurt ran back into the church. "C'mon guys, the family is waiting!" Finn pulled Rachel's hair back and put the locket around her neck. They shared another too-short kiss and Finn took Rachel's hand. Kurt tapped his foot impatiently and rushed them out of the church.

"All right you two lovebirds, the next wedding will be yours! I can see it now, the colors will be silver and deep blue! I predict a winter wedding and I'll have to get the flowers shipped in from South America. . ." Kurt continued his imaginary planning, while Finn and Rachel shared a loving look.

They joined their family and drove off to the reception, with Kurt and Jesse planning their future wedding the entire time.  
**  
****THE END**

* * *

Salut Mes Amis!

I loved this story. I loved the characters, and I loved exploring the idea of acceptance and family. Yeah, Kurt might be a bitch, but he is one of the most complex characters on the show. And I might love Finn and Rachel, but they're not the only characters on the show either. I enjoyed my first characterization of Kurt and I would like to write more of him in the future.

I've already started writing my New Story. Be on the lookout. It will be another Finn fic. I adore him.

Until Next Time. . . *sings* Don't Stop. . . Reveiwing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk


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